Kirk was elected to the House in 2000. During his fifth term in November 2010 he won two concurrent elections: to finish the final months of former Senator Barack Obama's term and to serve the next six-year term. He was sworn in on November 29, 2010, and began a six-year Senate term in January 2011.[3] In January 2012, Kirk suffered a stroke,[4] and a full year passed before he returned to his congressional duties.[5]

Teaching career

While Kirk was an undergraduate student at Cornell University he held a work–study job supervising a play group at the Forest Home Chapel nursery school. After getting his masters degree, Kirk taught for one year at a private school in London.[12][13] He later stated in speeches and interviews that he had been a nursery and middle school teacher. However a leader at the church which housed the nursery school has expressed her belief that Kirk overstated his role there.[12]

In discussing problems in the educational system early in his congressional career, Kirk addressed the brevity of his teaching career: “I did leave the teaching profession, but if we had addressed some of the teacher development issues, which I want to raise with you, I might have stayed.”[12][14]

Military service

In 1999 Kirk was recalled to active duty in Operation Allied Force for the bombing of Yugoslavia. He served from to April 10 to June 6, 1999 as the intelligence officer of VAQ-209.[15]VAQ-209 was combined with three other EA-6B squadrons to form an ad hoc unit called Electronic Attack Wing Aviano, Italy. VAQ-140 had tactical command of the combined unit.[16] In May 2000, the National Military Intelligence Association bestowed the organization's Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award to Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing Aviano, Italy.[17]

Kirk corrected claims he had made about being awarded "Navy Intelligence Officer of the Year" after it was brought to the media's attention by his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias.[21] In a 2002 House committee hearing recorded by C-SPAN, Kirk said, "I was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year", an achievement he said gave him special qualifications to discuss national security spending.[20] However, in May 2010, the Washington Post reported that Kirk's claim to having been named the Navy's “Intelligence Officer of the Year” was erroneous.[22] The National Military Intelligence Association gave the Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award to the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing at Aviano.[20] Kirk was the lead intelligence officer for VAQ-209, one of the four squadrons assigned to the Electronic Attack Wing. VAQ-140 had tactical command.[16] Kirk later apologized for this and other errors, including a claim made by his office of having participated in Operation Desert Storm when in fact he did not.[23]

On June 7, 2010, Medal of Honor recipient and advocate of Veteran's benefits, Allen Lynch, deemed Mark Kirk's apologies adequate, and further commented: “To me, in my opinion, it's just a bunch of nit picking. Plus, he's done a christ ton for veterans. So I think this is being blown way out of proportion".[24]

Service under fire

In a speech on the floor of the House in 2003, Kirk stated: “The last time I was in Iraq I was in uniform, flying at 20,000 feet, and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us”. Kirk has since clarified his statement, indicating that there is no record of his aircraft being fired upon.[25] “I simply misremembered [sic] it wrong”, he told the Chicago Sun-Times, referring to his military record.[26]

Military politicking

On December 18, 2009, Undersecretary of Defense Gail H. McGinn noted in a memo that Kirk had on two previous active duty periods engaged in politicking—violation of military policy by participating in political activities while on active duty, per Department of Defense regulations. On one occasion Congressman Kirk commented on Rod Blagojevich's arrest and posted a tweet while on duty with the Navy in Afghanistan.[27] According to the Pentagon, Kirk was required to sign a statement acknowledging he knew the rules and wouldn't break them again.[27]

U.S. House of Representatives

Kirk as a Congressman.

Elections

Kirk was originally elected in 2000 with 51%. He won re-election with comfortable margins in 2002 and 2004. He defeated Dan Seals by a five point margin in 2006, and defeated him again by the same margin in a rematch in 2008.[28]

Tenure

Kirk was a member of the House Iran Working Group, the founder and co-chair of the House U.S.-China Working Group,[29] the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues,[11] the co-chair of the Albanian Issues Caucus in ex Yugoslavia,[30] and a member of the GOP Tuesday Group.[31] During his House tenure, he was a member of the House Appropriations Committee.[32] Before leaving for the Senate, Kirk had been named to the Appropriations Committee.

Gun control

In June 2008, Kirk introduced H.R. 6257 to reinstate the assault weapons ban of 1994. The bill was co-sponsored by fellow Republicans: Michael Castle, Mike Ferguson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Chris Shays.[35] Four years earlier, in February 2004, Kirk had been among 11 Republican and 129 Democrat co-sponsors of H.R. 3831 to reauthorize the ban.[36] Both bills died in committee.

Immigration

In 2005, Kirk stated that he was not opposed to the immigration process in the United States discriminating against young Arab males from "terrorist-producing states". He stated, "I think that when we look at the threat that’s out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them."[37]

United States Senate

2010 election

On July 20, 2009, Kirk announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate election for the seat held by Roland Burris, which had been held by Barack Obama before his election as president. On February 2, 2010, Kirk won the Republican primary with 56.6 percent of the vote; no other candidate had as much as 20 percent.[38] He ran against Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias, Green Party nominee LeAlan Jones, and Libertarian nominee Mike Labno. During the Illinois U.S. Senate election campaign in 2010, Kirk and Giannoulias were in a hotly contested debate. Kirk (R) defeated Giannoulias in the election for the full six-year term, getting 48% to Giannoulias's 46%. Kirk changed his position on Cap and Trade legislation during the campaign saying he voted for it "because it was in the narrow interests of my Congressional district", but that as a representative of the entire state of Illinois, "I will vote No on that bill”.[39]

In 2012, Kirk was accused of concealing his payment of $143,000 to a former girlfriend, Dodie McCracken, who worked on his 2010 Senatorial campaign.[40]

Tenure

Kirk was sworn-in on November 29, 2010, as the junior Senator from Illinois.[41] Kirk sits at the Senate's coveted Candy Desk.[42]

He was one of only two Republicans to oppose legislation to detain American citizens indefinitely.[43]

Infrastructure advocacy

In his first year in the Senate, Kirk worked along with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D–IL) to help mediate a dispute between airlines serving O'Hare International Airport and the City of Chicago in order to Keep the O'Hare Modernization project on Schedule.[44] It is estimated the project would create 200,000 jobs and add $18 billion to the regional economy when completed.[45]

Kirk and Durbin also worked together to bring $186 million in federal funds to support improved rail service from Chicago to St. Louis. The money was originally rejected by the state of Florida but reallocated to Illinois.[46]

Kirk authored legislation, entitled the Lincoln Legacy Infrastructure Development Act, that sought to eliminate barriers and encourage private investment in roads, transit, airport and rail.[47] Several of the provisions in the legislation would later become law under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L. 112-114), including provisions to eliminate barriers to public-private partnerships for public transportation projects and a boost for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFA) program.[48]

Environmental protections for the Great Lakes

Mark Kirk co-chairs the Senate's Great Lakes Task Force, along with Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), and on June 26, 2013, the two introduced the Great Lakes Ecological and Economic Protection Act (GLEEPA). This legislation authorizes more funds to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in their efforts to restore wetlands, control invasive species, and regulate dumping of sewage and other industrial byproducts into the Great Lakes watershed. It also re-authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes national Program Office and Great Lakes Legacy Act, which addresses dumping of toxic waste.[49] Kirk has introduced similar legislation in the past,[50] and Kirk has been a longstanding supporter of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' efforts to keep invasive Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Illinois debt crisis

Kirk appointed a sovereign debt advisory board to help research the unfunded obligations and unpaid bills contributing to Illinois' debt crisis. He later produced a Report on Illinois Debt highlighting the unsustainable debt the state continued to hold and the need for pension reform.[51] Kirk introduced legislation entitled No State Bailouts, S. Res. 188, along with 14 other U.S. Senators, which would ban federal bailouts of financially struggling states. Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford endorsed the legislation.[52]

Anti-corruption work

Kirk and Representative Robert Dold (R–IL-10) introduced bipartisan legislation to expand qualifications for ending federal pension payouts to elected officials convicted of corruption. The bicameral provision expanded current law to include an additional 22 crimes, and the bill was included in the STOCK Act signed by the President in April 2012.[53]

LGBT rights

Despite voting against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell as a member of the United States House of Representatives,[54] Kirk joined seven other Senate Republicans in voting in favor of the policy's repeal on December 18, 2010.[55]

Kirk is a cosponsor and strong supporter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and in November 2013 one of several Republicans to vote in favor of the law, which would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[57]

Airline safety

In the aftermath of the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight by missiles over the Ukraine, Kirk called for an investigation into the possibility of outfitting commercial airliners with military chaff units. Military pilots have questioned the effectiveness of such a move.[62]

Personal life

In February 1998, Kirk met Kimberly Vertolli, a Naval Intelligence Officer by chance while the two were on duty together at the Pentagon.[64] "It was supposed to be my weekend off...but Saddam had just thrown out the weapons inspectors and we were preparing for a strike on Baghdad", Vertolli said, according to Capitol File magazine.[65][66] The two married in August 2001, when Kirk was 41.[67] After eight years of marriage, the two separated, finalizing their divorce in the summer of 2009.

Stroke and recovery

On January 23, 2012, Senator Kirk underwent surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago following a stroke; he underwent neurosurgery to remove two small pieces of brain tissue rendered dysfunctional by the stroke and he had a piece of his cranium temporarily removed to lessen any danger from the brain swelling process. His neurosurgeon, Dr. Fessler,[69] expected him to have to spend a lengthy period in inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation, but his cognitive functions, motor skills, and vital functions were largely unaffected by the stroke, save for the fact that his left side has a marked degree of weakness, which may improve during the healing process. Even barring any complications or further cerebrovascular incidents, it would still be months before any decision can be made about returning to the Senate.[4]

On May 1, 2012, Kirk was sent home from a rehabilitation center. A statement from his family said he would continue to work on rehabilitation on an outpatient basis, but that he has progressed enough to be able to move home with his family.[70] A week later, Kirk’s staff released a video showing Kirk walking on a treadmill and down a hallway at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago as doctors work with him to help fully regain the use of his left side.[71] A second video was released in August, showing Kirk is living at his Fort Sheridan, Illinois home, and while his left side still showed impairment, Kirk was walking without aid. According to an aide, his return to the Senate was expected in January 2013.[72] On November 4, he participated in a "SkyRise Chicago" challenge to climb the stairs of Willis Tower, successfully completing 37 floors.[73]